About Michael Milken

American financier and philanthropist Michael Milken has an estimated net worth of $2.3 billion as of March 2013. He is #641 in the Forbes Billionaires List, #221 in the United States and #206 in Forbes 400. He is noted for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds (junk bonds) during the 1970s and 1980s, for his conviction following a guilty plea on felony charges for violating US securities laws, and his charitable giving.

Milken was born Michael Robert Milken a middle-class Jewish family on July 4, 1946 in Encino, California. He graduated from Birmingham High School and the University of California, Berkeley with a B.S. with the highest honors. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert, an old-line investment bank, through his Wharton professors.

Michael Milken has made millions in leveraged buyouts in the 1980s. In 1989, he was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud in an inside trading investigation. In 1990, he pleaded guilty after the government agreed to drop charges against his younger brother, Lowell. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, fined $600 million, and permanently barred from the securities industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

After serving 22 months, Milken has devoted himself to philanthropy. He invested in education companies like interactive toy maker LeapFrog and educational outfit K12. He co-founded the Milken Family Foundation and chairman of the Milken Institute, a non-profit economic think tank. He is also a founder of medical research philanthropies funding research into melanoma, cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He was a prostate cancer survivor and has given millions of efforts to eradicate the disease. He signed the Giving Pledge in December 2010, promising to donate at least half of his wealth to charity.